I don't know whether it's because there are so many stakeholders wedded to the status quo, or if it's 50+ years of the media highlighting (semi-truthful) stories about Americans who went to the doctor for a hangnail and ended up bankrupt, but one of life's greatest frustrations is that almost any attempt to have a rational, adult conversation about healthcare reform invariably gets met with "oh you'd prefer we have the American system?". When you point out that many other nations use some kind of hybrid approach and have better outcomes with lower per capita costs, they look at you like you're you're from Mars.
Hi David - this is an interesting article. It sounds like we should be able to compare Quebec's system with its private innovations to the rest of Canada. How is Quebec doing when it comes to overall costs and wait times compared to the ROC?
Well as I've written (https://www.theaudit.ca/p/ranking-are-we-winning-the-patient), Quebec seems to have significantly reduced their wait times since the change - and they also improved their patient:healthcare worker ratio - although those are, predictably, complex. I haven't looked at cost comparisons.
I don't know whether it's because there are so many stakeholders wedded to the status quo, or if it's 50+ years of the media highlighting (semi-truthful) stories about Americans who went to the doctor for a hangnail and ended up bankrupt, but one of life's greatest frustrations is that almost any attempt to have a rational, adult conversation about healthcare reform invariably gets met with "oh you'd prefer we have the American system?". When you point out that many other nations use some kind of hybrid approach and have better outcomes with lower per capita costs, they look at you like you're you're from Mars.
Unless I'm mistaken, only Canada, Cuba, and North Korea prohibit private delivery of healthcare. :)
What is the old saying about the company you keep?
Hi David - this is an interesting article. It sounds like we should be able to compare Quebec's system with its private innovations to the rest of Canada. How is Quebec doing when it comes to overall costs and wait times compared to the ROC?
Well as I've written (https://www.theaudit.ca/p/ranking-are-we-winning-the-patient), Quebec seems to have significantly reduced their wait times since the change - and they also improved their patient:healthcare worker ratio - although those are, predictably, complex. I haven't looked at cost comparisons.